Audio stories

Hatfield Stories" is an oral history project sponsored by the Hatfield Historical Society and supported in part by grants from the Hatfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. The goal of this project is to preserve audio stories of our community, past and present, before they are lost. If you enjoy these excerpts and live in the area, you can listen to the full interviews for some of these clips by borrowing the audio CDs from the Hatfield Public Library or from the CW/Mars online library system. For others, you can visit the Hatfield Historical Museum and listen to the interviews there. If you like these stories, please leave us a comment, "Like" us or forward to a friend.

Check out stories below from World War II and the home front.

Ted Picard of Hatfield, MA, formerly of Easthampton, MA, recounts piloting a landing craft during the Aug. 8, 1942, attack by the Japanese on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.--This excerpt and the other Ted Picard excerpt are from a 7/8/2015 interview by Vivian Kinzler

Like many soldiers, when Ted Picard returned from the war he suffered from panic attacks – but didn’t know what they were or how to make them stop. Listen to his story.

Thomas Leamon, of Whately, MA, was drafted into the Army straight out of high school, and he soon found himself living in a foxhole in the Ardennes Forest in the brutal winter of the Battle of the Bulge. Listen to Tom describe some of the battle’s toll and remember that he, like so many others, had been just a kid when he left.

-- Interviewed by Marta Bilodeau 8/27/2015Image from National Archives Records Administration, music by Kevin MacLeod

Al Rejniak was a 13-year-old boy on Aug. 27, 1943, when a plane from Westover crashed in a field in North Hatfield, MA. Listen to his story of attempted looting.– This excerpt and the ones that follow are from a 4/23/2015 interview by Kathie Gow

What happened to the downed P47, and what happened to the pilot? What did the boys get away with?

During WWII, young Al Rejniak gets a lesson on how to pick up a phosphorus bomb.

Trapping muskrats in West Hatfield before school, Al Rejniak gets stopped at the bridge by an armed soldier.

Like everyone, Al Rejniak’s family had ration books during the war for sugar, meat, fuel and so on, but growing up on a farm, they were not wanting for food. He remembers a shortage of coffee, though, and a concoction his mother ground up as a substitute.

Marion Root of Hatfield, MA, formerly of Greenfield, MA, wanted to participate in the war effort and the Springfield Armory gave her the chance.--This excerpt and the ones that follow are from a 9/11/2015 interview by Marta Bilodeau.

Marion Root worked on the clip for the M1 rifle – the primary gun used by the U.S. military during World War II. (A clip is a unit used to store multiple rounds of ammunition, ready to be inserted into the magazine or cylinder of a gun.) Here, Marion (on right) and a co-worker pack clips into boxes.

In those days, says Marion, there were no restrictions on dress. Here she is receiving an award from the U.S. Army in 1963 for her years of service at the Springfield Armory.

Marion attempts to explain the satisfaction she and others working at the Springfield Armory felt during the war.

Listen to the following stories about life in Hatfield, from the 1930s to today

She moved to Hatfield, Mass., in 1921 with her family from Brattleboro, Vt. when she was 12. Mary is the daughter of Daniel Riley, who owned the D.F. Riley Grist Mill on Prospect St. in Hatfield from 1935 to 1965. Prior to that, he owned the North Hatfield Grain Co., on Depot Road, and it was when they lived there, next to the railroad, that they shared a party line with the train station. Mary was 102 years old when this interview was done in January 2012. She died Nov. 21, 2014, at the age of 105.

Hatfield native Rita Prew was 80 years old in the spring of 2008 when she described what it was like being a child in Hatfield, Mass., during the Flood of 1936 that devastated the Connecticut River Valley. The photo shows the house at 1 South St., looking north down Main St. toward where Rita lived. Rita died March 22, 2010, at the age of 82.

Hatfield native Rita Prew was in her 80s as she recalled being a child in Hatfield, Mass., when the Hurricane of 1938 hit the Connecticut River Valley.

Making sauerkraut was a traditional activity for Polish immigrants in the Connecticut River Valley, and many of their Hatfield descendants still make their own today. Ed Wroblewski describes how he makes his sauerkraut. At left, John Pease demonstrates making sauerkraut with a traditional (manual) cabbage cutter during the Hatfield Fall Festival in October 2012.

In this excerpt, we hear how health care was different in the 1930s. Today, most of us see our doctors at their offices or clinics out of town, or at one of the local hospitals, and for many of us, whether we’re sick or not, we see our doctors for an annual checkup. But that’s NOT the way it to be. Mike Paszek tells us about Hatfield’s town doctors, followed by Phyllis Kuzontkoski telling about HER family’s doctor, and one particular day when the doctor paid them a visit on North St., when she was five years old. The doctor's bag at left belonged to Dr. Bonneville, and was donated by Joe Pelis, who purchased it at a yard sale on School St. Michael Paszek died June 18, 2010, at nearly 90 years old.

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